Georgia CommonsHB 1063: Electric utilities; protect residential and retail electricity customers from costs associated with data center construction and operation; require
Last action February 18, 2026 · Senate Read and Referred
House Bill 1063 would require Georgia electric utilities to include customer-protection terms in contracts with large data centers, so residential and small business ratepayers do not absorb the costs of building power infrastructure for those facilities.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Comm Sub version, the latest LegiScan holds.
In plain language
Large data centers use huge amounts of electricity, and building the power plants, lines, and infrastructure to serve them can be expensive. This bill addresses who pays for that: it adds a new part to Georgia's electric utility law requiring that any contract between an electric utility and a qualifying data center include specific protections for residential and retail customers. A 'data center' is defined as a facility or connected group of facilities used mainly to process, store, or transmit data with peak electricity demand of 100 megawatts or more. Contracts with these data centers must include minimum billing requirements, contract terms that can run longer than standard tariffs, credit and performance safeguards in case of default, and protections if the contract ends early. These rules apply only to contracts signed after the bill becomes law, and the Georgia Public Service Commission would enforce compliance under its existing authority.
What the bill does
- Creates a new legal definition of 'data center' in Georgia utility law: a facility or connected group of facilities with peak electricity demand of 100 megawatts or more.
- Requires electric utility contracts with qualifying data centers to include minimum billing terms meant to recover costs tied to serving or preparing to serve the data center.
- Allows those contracts to run longer than the utility's standard service tariff term.
- Requires contracts to include credit and performance provisions protecting retail customers if the data center defaults.
- Requires termination provisions that protect retail customers if the data center's electric service contract ends early.
- Limits the new rules to contracts signed on or after the bill's effective date and gives the Georgia Public Service Commission enforcement authority.
Who it affects
Electric utilities operating in Georgia, large data center operators with electricity demand of 100 megawatts or more, and residential and small business electricity customers who could otherwise bear costs from data center infrastructure. The Georgia Public Service Commission would gain a new enforcement role.
Why it matters
As data centers expand across Georgia, building new power capacity for them can be costly. This bill aims to keep those costs tied to the data centers themselves rather than spreading them to household and small business electric bills, through required contract safeguards.
Key provisions
- Section 1 adds Part 6 to Article 1 of Chapter 3 of Title 46, defining 'data center' as a facility or connected facilities with peak annual electricity demand of 100 megawatts or greater (O.C.G.A. § 46-3-80).
- O.C.G.A. § 46-3-81 requires utility contracts with data centers to include minimum billing requirements, extended contract terms, default protections, and termination protections for retail customers.
- O.C.G.A. § 46-3-82 limits these requirements to contracts entered into on or after the bill's effective date.
- O.C.G.A. § 46-3-83 gives the Georgia Public Service Commission authority to determine compliance with these requirements.
- Section 2 repeals any conflicting state laws.
From the bill
“Each contract between an electric utility and a data center for the provision of electric service shall include terms and conditions designed to protect residential and retail electricity customers from costs associated with data center construction and operation”
“the term 'data center' means a facility, campus of facilities, or array of interconnected facilities used by an entity or other business enterprise to operate, manage, or maintain a computer, group of computers, or other organized assembly of hardware and software for the primary purpose of processing, storing, retrieving, or transmitting data and that have a peak annual electricity demand of 100 megawatts or greater”
Status timeline
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Brad Thomas (R, HD-021)
- Jon Burns (R, HD-159)
- Charles Cannon (R, HD-172)
- Sandy Donatucci (R, HD-105)
- Scott Hilton (R, HD-048)
- Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)
Votes
- House voteFebruary 2, 2026
122 yea, 9 nay (38 not voting, 6 absent)
- House voteFebruary 17, 2026
157 yea, 5 nay (4 not voting, 9 absent)
Topics
- electric utilities
- data centers
- electricity rates
- Georgia Public Service Commission
- utility contracts